Nick Libonati was drinking Turkish tea with his sister Tuesday morning as he started his day in Pacific Palisades.
She leaned over to pour the 21-year-old boot salesman more tea in their home office when she glanced out the window.
“She screams, ‘Fire!’” Libonati recalled.
The Los Angeles Fire Department has said that the Palisades fire — which has burned tens of thousands of acres and destroyed more than a thousand homes, businesses and other structures in one of Los Angeles’ wealthiest enclaves — was first reported from the address on North Piedra Morada Drive where Libonati’s family lives. Libonati confirmed he was the first to call 911 and that he went to alert his neighbors to the fire.
Now, he and his family and friends are still battling to protect their property as spot fires continue to flare up in the area. His house on Piedra Morada is still standing.
When Libonati and his sister first spied the fire, he said, it was about two miles from their home. But he knew they were in trouble when he tried to hose down their plants and the wind blew the water back into his face. Libonati realized the flames were headed in their direction.
“It was coming right at us,” he said.
As they ran to alert neighbors, packed up their most important belongings and called the Fire Department, they watched as the distance closed. Half a mile away. A quarter-mile.
By the time they left the neighborhood, Libonati said, the fire was 20 feet from the house. He tried to take the fire road out of the neighborhood but smoke and fire chased him back to Palisades Drive, where he got caught in the massive traffic jam after many residents abandoned their cars, leaving them to sizzle in the fire. Libonati remained in his vehicle and escaped, watching black smoke billow in his rearview mirror as his childhood neighborhood went up in flames.
For the last two days, Libonati has barely slept.
When he returned to the neighborhood Wednesday night, he was shocked to find his house still standing, along with a few others in the cul-de-sac at the end of Piedra Morada Drive.
He was with old friends, some of whom lost their houses in the fires.
“They were still willing to come help me save my house,” he said.
They spent Wednesday night at the scene of where the fire was first reported. They put out hot spots using pool water. There were no firefighters left in their neighborhood.
“I think last night we saved my cul-de-sac,” he said. “Everything across the street. Gone. Torched. Fully crumbled down.”
He and his friends planned to keep fighting Thursday. He was hoping to buy a fire pump — if they haven’t all been purchased. And the pool still has water in it. So they’ll be filling up buckets and putting out flames where they flare up.
As he beat back the flames threatening his home, he was grateful it was still standing. He thought about his frantic exit on Tuesday and his home in the rearview as he watched the news that night as Pacific Palisades burned.
“I was just there. I kept watching the news, 24/7. You feel helpless. There’s only so much you can do. You’re watching something you love and call home,” he said. “You know when you go on a business trip and you can’t wait to get back in your own bed? That idea kept going through my head. My own bed. I kept thinking, ‘I’m not going to have that anymore.’”